Page 89 - AirForces - Monthly (February 2020)

Exercise
Report Yorknite 2019

Swiss Air Force F/A-18C J-5006 taxies out of its HAS at
RAF Leeming during Yorknite 2019. Aircraft and crews
were provided by Fliegersta el 11, 17 and 18 based at

Payerne and Meiringen. All photos Mick Britton

Swiss Hornets
in the UK

supersonic flights. The solution for Mick Britton was at RAF
the Swiss Air Force has been to Leeming as the Swiss Air
turn to the relatively open airspace Force undertook a second
of northern England, which is even
less busy now with the cessation major detachment to the
of flying at RAF Linton-on-Ouse. UK for advanced flying
RAF Leeming offers training.
spare capacity in terms of
accommodation, with a disused the junior pilots as they develop
complex of hardened aircraft their skills – especially at night.
H
shelters (HASes), the The formal exercise period ran
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t the Hornets in three waves being launched daily,
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November. Lt Col
N o ve m b e r . L t C o l including eight jets almost every
W ic k i d e s cr i b e d evening. AFM’s visit on November
Wicki described
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the RAF hosts 20 coincided with a morning flying
F h
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Above: A pilot takes charge of his Hornet. After Leeming’s last as “exceptional”. . schedule consisting of seven
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Tornado F3 squadron disbanded in 2008 the base’s extensive “ “Nothing is too Hornets, all emerging from the
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HAS complexes began to fall into disrepair, but more are being
much trouble,” he
made usable once again. Right: The exercise patch depicted m u c h t r o u b l e , ” h e old No 25 (Fighter) Squadron
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the West Front of York Minster with a formation of F/A-18s flying s said, adding that he area. Despite the presence of
between the two towers and over the head of a Viking warrior. h hopes to return in 2020. . the resident No 100 Squadron
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T he Swiss Air Force arrived air c omba t t r aining w a s (name withheld for security o u x ’ Hawk T1A aggressors, the Swiss
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So does Hornet pilot ‘Sioux’
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air combat training was
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contingent operated independently,
at RAF Leeming, North
necessary owing to the various
Yorkshire, on November domestic constraints at home. reasons) from Fliegerstaffel making full use of the ideal
11 with a large deployment for These include congested airspace, 17, who described the flying airspace and training areas which
what appears to be an annual high population density and severe experience in the UK as “fantastic” included Low Flying Area (LFA) 17
low-level and night flying exercise restrictions on low-level, night and and of considerable benefit to in the Lake District. AFM
in UK airspace – following on Left: A trio of Swiss F/A-18s heads out
from a similar event at RAF for the next mission from Leeming on
Lossiemouth, Moray, in 2018. November 20.
The latest manoeuvres, dubbed
Yorknite 2019, involved the
Payerne- and Meiringen-based
F/A-18C/D Hornets and personnel
of Fliegerstaffel 11, 17 and 18.
The nine-jet detachment was
commanded by Lt Col Aldo Wicki,
who explained that out-of-country
Yorknite Hornets
The nine aircraft detached to RAF
Leeming comprised F/A-18C serials
J-5006, 5009, 5016, 5018, 5024, 5025
and F/A-18Ds J-5233, 5236 and 5238.
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